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MAURICE Cheeks isn’t the only one disappointed Darius Miles merely got a two-game suspension for “going off” on him at a team video session Thursday afternoon.

Considering the Blazers’ losing battle to germ warfare since J.R. Rider first infected their household and the new administration’s firm purification program since assuming power two seasons ago, I’m stunned team president Steve Patterson and GM John Nash didn’t indefinitely subtract Miles from their equation for viciously doggin’ (so to speak) Cheeks.

Oops, excuse me, I forgot, Portland needs Sky Miles; prior to Friday’s 90-86 victory over my Clippers the team was 16-25 and had lost 13 of 16.

Still, you’d think Miles’ wicked disrespect for Cheeks as a coach as well as a human being warranted corresponding punishment. For having the nerve to critique his 23-year-old player’s performance in the previous night’s loss to the Mavericks, Cheeks was subjected to 20 or so racial slurs, taunts about getting fired, and other personal attacks.

Let’s stop right here; imagine the passionate protects and potent editorials that would’ve resulted had a white player talked such ethnic smack to Cheeks? When do you think he’d play again, if ever, for the Blazers? How long would that storm cloud hover over his career? We all know management (the League of Nations, NAACP, etc.) would’ve thrown the leather bound hardcover book at him, and rightfully so.

Miles’ insubordination and offensive conduct goes beyond simply being detrimental to the team; it defaces every coach and smears the entire NBA. For that, and more (see next graph), he deserves the same black-and-white censure and solemn rebuke.

If his outburst weren’t appalling enough, Miles then violently declined to leave when Cheeks told him to go home. “You’ll have to call the police if you want to kick me out of the building,” Miles menaced. So much for completing the team meeting.

When Cheeks then headed toward Nash’s office Miles ranted, “Yeah, that’s right, call your daddy.” The Oregonian reported Miles burst into Nash’s office moments later and another eruption ensued. Nash disputes that, saying the whole verbal episode took place in the locker room.

As stressed at the outset, Cheeks was disappointed Miles’ time in the isolation booth is only two games. What he found most upsetting was Miles, supposedly his guy, kept telling him how much he didn’t like him.

I’m serious. That really bothered Cheeks, who admits he may have provoked Miles, may have been on his case a little too much using a less than soothing tone of voice, may have goaded a ultra-sensitive kid who doesn’t take kindly to constructive criticism or otherwise, may have pushed him over the edge, and, for that, he’s sorry.

Miles, too, issued an apology. I have no doubt it’s sincere. This is a tough street kid who went out of his way – phone call after follow-up phone call – once upon a time in Clipperdom to get my wife a backstage pass at a Nelly contest ’cause he knew she was a big fan of his St.L. homie before it was fashionable.

That makes me a big fan of Darius Miles. But I’ve been a big fan of Maurice Cheeks for far longer, dating back to his rookie year with the Sixers when he quickly earned the nickname “Little J” because he only had eyes for Julius Erving on the fast break.

Voluntarily accepting some culpability for the incident tells you all you have to know about him as a person.

Caring whether Miles likes him tells us all we have to know about him being in charge. A head coach cannot afford to care whether players like him, the only things that should concern him is whether they do what he says and they do it correctly.

The following quote by Joel Przybilla tells me either I’m overreacting to the confrontation, or the Blazers’ center (astonishingly effective of late) has forever been warped by his formative experiences with the Bucks.

“The Blazers players support Cheeks 100 percent and the same with Darius,” he said. “It was just an instance of two guys having different views. I have seen worse. I was in Milwaukee with Anthony Mason, and this was nothing.”

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Hubie Brown forfeited the remainder of this season’s salary when he resigned as Memphis coach. Yet the Knicks plan to pay Lenny Wilkens $6M plus for this year and most of next. If that contrast doesn’t put an end to the pretenses he left on his own volition, nothing will.

Oh, sure, James Dolan is going to allow Wilkens to quit with dignity but Don Chaney was fired and disgracefully escorted out of the Garden after years of loyalty. Does that make sense?

Wilkens’ 90-year-old mother is gravely ill, but as far as I can tell, she was 89 when he took the job and not in the best shape of her life then. If Wilkens really wanted to be with her more, he’d be burrowing into Brooklyn instead of slipping off to his home in Seattle.